Railway car drop door



June 9; 1931. A. E. SMALL I 1,309,643

RAILWAY CAR DROP DOOR Filed April 25, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 o n -t1:5 Eo E a I o O 1 3 O O O O O O .Ew/eizlor: firth urESmalZ H93 fllt'orneJune 9, 1931. 'A. E. SMALL mmwmfi CAR DROP DOOR Filed April 25. 1929 5Sheets-Sheet 2 lie 2225a urlfimall fliiarneg June 9, 1931. A. E. SMALLRAILWAY CAR DROP DOOR 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 25, 1929 JIQQen forflrf/zza-E all fliorne a n .e. b 44 b \adiu am w 2 w p d 6 19 PatentedJune 9, 1931 UNITED r ARTHUR SMALL, or oHIcAGo, ILLINOIS, assreivon Totin-ION METAL rnonuors COMPANY, or cH'IcAGo; itLL'iiivo'rs, Acoerce-Arron or DELAWARE RAILWAY am o? noon Application filed April 25,

The invention relates to railway cars of the dumping type but morespecifically to the socalled general service gondola cars where in thefloor consists of a plurality of doors, which doors usually have one endhinged to the center construction of the car and the other end supportedby the side wall of the car when the door is in closed position. Suchdoors are usually each provided with a- ;plurality of hinge elements andsupport ele men-ts,and Iprovide a beam element "between each hingeelement and its opposite supporting element. When two hinges are used toeach door each of such beams supports substantially 50% of the loadimposed upon the door and where three hinge elements are'used each beamsupports substantially one-third of the load imposed upon the door.

carries substantially two-thirds of the :load

imposed upon the door. (See Fig. 2)

The object of this invention is to provide a hinged door for arailwaycar, which door is reinforced by beam elements which j'fun'ction whenthe door is in closed position and another beam element which functionswhen the door is in open position. Another object of the invention istosecure co-operation between these. dilierent beam elements wherebyeach beam element reinforces each other beam element.

In the drawings:

Figs. 1, 2 and 3 show a typical applicatio of my invention to a railwaycar.

Figs. 4 to 8 inclusive show a form of the door in detail.

Fig. 9 shows a modified construction: Fig.

I element 13 extending 1929. serial 353,008.

10 is a section'on line 1'0'-10of Fig. 9 Fig. 11 is a section on line11'*11 of Fig. 9;

Fi'gs. 1-2, 1 3 and 14 are illustrative diagrams.

In -the drawings, the usual parts of the car are shown, such as centersills or center construction 1; cover plate 2; crossdiaphragms'3,"side-wall 4; operating shaft 5; raising 'chainfiandstop 7 The door isprovided with hinge elements 10 adjacent one end thereof which engagethe hinges 11 mounted on the center construction 1. The door is alsoprovided with support elements 12adj acent the other end of the door towhich the raising chain 6 is secured. The term support elements meansany means ad acentthe outer end of the door which rests upon a partofthecar proper to support the door when it is in closed position. Thedoor is further provided with a rib or beam between each of the hingeelements 10 and the opposite support elements 12. The bumpers 14 arepreferably positioned adjacent the opposite sides of the door andanother rib or beam element 15 substantially normal to the firstmentioned rib or beam element is provided which extends between saidbumpers.

I also preferably-provide brackets 36 extending from the ribstoward thecorners of the door to prevent the drooping of these corners andreinforcing ribs 37 between the hinge elements and reinforcing ribs 38be-, twee'nth'e support elements;

As the ribs forming the beam element be,- tweenthe bumpers must supporta greater load than the other beam elements they are preferably deepersotively stronger.

The different beam elements cross each-0th er-=and are so formed as topreventeith'erone of them from deflecting under stress, therebyco-operat1ng to strengthen each of then I prefer "to make the door of'castmetal wherein .it is easier to distribute the metal in the 'dooraccordingto the stress imposed upon the various parts and a castingalso'elimin ates fabrication and assembling of the various parts, andfurthermore, assures that the various parts of the door will remainintact and as to make them rela- V will not be loosened or severed bythe motion of the train in service. The invention, however, is notlimited to a cast metal door and Figs. 9, 10 and 11 show a constructionwherein the body of the door is made of a rolled metallic plate having abeam element 50, shown as a T section extending between the hingeelements 51 and the support elements 52. The beam element 50 ispreferably attached to a flange 53 adjacent each end of the door. Thedoor is also provided with a strap 54 which is secured to flanges 55 atthe side margins of the door. lVhen the door is in open position itrests upon the end portions of the strap 56 which forms the bumpers andthe strap in combination with the beam ele ments (forming struts) formsa truss between the bumpers. The metallic plate may be re inforced withcorrugations 57.

Figs. 12, 13 and 14 are diagrams wherein Fig. 12 shows the beam elementsa. extending between the hinge elements 2) and sup ports a and the.other beam elements (1 extending between the opposite bumpers a. Theshaded portion in Fig. 13 shows the area of the load supported by one ofthe beam ele ments 0 which is one-half of the load. The shaded portionin Fig. 14 shows the area of the load supported by the beam d which isabout two-thirds of the load, thus the beam d should be one-thirdstronger than the beam a.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of theinvention, though it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as itis ObVlOllS that various modifications thereof within the scope of theclaims will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A door for a railway dump car comprising hinge elements adjacent oneend thereof, support elements adjacent the other end thereof, bumpersadjacent the opposite sides thereof, a rib extending between each of thehinge elements and the opposite support elements, and another ribsubstantially normal to the first mentioned ribs extending between saidbumpers.

2. A door for a railway dump car comprising hinge elements adjacent oneend thereof, support elements adjacent the other end thereof, bumpersadjacent the opposite sides thereof, a rib extending between each of thehinge elements and the opposite support elements, brackets extendingfrom said ribs to- Ward the corners of the door, and another ribsubstantially normal to the first mentioned ribs extending between saidbumpers.

3. A door for a railway dump car comprising hinge elements adjacent oneend thereof, support elements adjacent the other end thereof, bumpersadjacent the opposite sides thereof, arib extending between each of thehinge elements and the opposite support elements, and a deeper ribsubstantially normal to the first mentioned ribs extending between saidbumpers.

4. A door for a railway dump car having hinge elements, supportelements, andv bumpers, said door provided with a beam element extendingfrom the hinge elements to the supporting elements, respectively, andanother beam element substantially normal to the first mentioned beamelement extending between said bumpers.

5. In a railway car having a door opening, hinge butts adjacent one endthereof, door supports adjacent the oiher end thereof,a door stopadjacent each side thereof, and a door having hinge elements engagingsaid hinge butts, support elements engag ing said supports when the dooris in closed position, and bumpers positioned to engage said stops whenthe door is in open. position, said door provided with a beam elementextending from the hinge elements to the sup porting elements,respectively, and another beam element substantially norn' al to thefirst mentioned beam element extending between said bumpers.

G. A door for a railway car comprising hinge elements adjacent one endthereof, support elements adjacent the other end thereof, bumpersadjacent the opposite sides thereof, a reinforcing rib extending betweensaid hinge elements, another reinforcing rib extending between saidsupport elements, a rib extending between each of the hinge elements andthe opposite support elements, brackets extending from said ribs towardthe corners of the door, and another rib substantially normal to thefirst mentioned ribs extending between said bumpers.

7. In a railway car having a door opening and a door therefor, thecombination of hinge members adjacent one end of the open- .ing, supportmembers adjacent the opposite end of the opening to support the door inclosed position, and door stops on the opposite sides of the opening tosupport the door in open position, said door provided with a ribextending between each hinge member and the opposite support member, andanother rib extending between the portions of the door which engage saidstops.

ARTHUR E. SMALL.

